what does godless music mean?

i think we can all agree that "atheist" is a word of little value to us in the eyes of the common man. it could be a put down, or a some way to pigeon-hole non-believers into a niche....

so i'd like to throw out for shits & giggles....

what if you used christian imagery in your music (like NIN), but like NIN were atheist?

personally, i'd have no problem doing it, like literary allusion...

and.... I've noticed alot of people on this site come from backgrounds where they have to hide their beliefs or "out themselves."

luckily in my case, i've never had to do that --- even growing up in the midwest of the USA.

so i guess the bottomline of my question is....

does your atheism even matter when it comes to your music?
if so, do you preach atheism?

as for me, my music is about the human experience, it might borrow from tradition, that could be catholic or christianity in general or just literature or another band... but, good art is all about references....

is there REALLY an idea of atheist ART?

(my personal opinion is there is not...)

(also, not trying to troll in anyways, just trying to hear some other artist's opinions... )

Replies to This Discussion

You can define "atheist art" in two ways. Art that doesn't reference the supernatural or God or religion could technically be called "atheist". But this isn't a useful definition since it's more accurate to call this non-theistic or naturalistic or some similar term and it probably applies to most art. To really deserve the name atheist art, it should actively make some assertion about disbelief or skepticism.

I'm not interested in "preaching atheism" in my music but if the opportunity arises to tweak the nose of religion in my work, I'll happily do it.

my songs are preachy. if i'm going to write some pop, i'm going to craft a message. that's the concept that got me started writing pop 30 years ago. as far as "human experience," goes, i make fun of it.

i also write a lot of instrumental. to me, music is also a tool to massage my mind